This invention is a further improvement for a batting tee for baseball as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,358,163 and 6,682,445 to Tanner.
A batting tee is used by baseball players to practice hitting baseballs held at various positions within or near to the strike zone. By using a batting tee to practice hitting a stationary ball, players can improve their batting swings and learn to hit balls from various locations within and near to the strike zone. Because many players wish to practice hitting balls from locations that are awkward or unfamiliar to them, or from which the player has previously experienced difficulty hitting a ball, it is a common accident for players to strike the batting tee with the bat, rather than to cleanly hit the baseball held atop the tee. The result is that batting tees typically suffer tremendous physical abuse throughout their lives.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,163 discloses a durable batting tee having a number of specialized features intended to avoid wear, tear, and breakage to which a typical batting tee is subjected. Amongst these features are a split washer that is used within a nut and threaded compression fitting to enable a batter to tighten the split washer about the tee to hold the ball at a desired height. The compression fitting was used to enable the tee to withstand impacts from a bat, yet still be able to be tightened sufficiently to hold the telescoping members at a desired position. Although this feature works well for its purpose, it does have the drawback of requiring a batter to twist the compression fitting in order to loosen it for adjustment of the telescoping member, and to twist it in the opposite direction to tighten the fitting when the proper height is obtained.
The problem of maintaining the ball holder at a desired height using a telescoping configuration was addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,682,445 to Tanner, in which an elongated split washer having an circumferential flange was used to increase friction between two telescoping members. The solution provided in the '682 patent, however, has the drawback that the elongated washer may, over time and repeated impacts from the tee's being struck by a bat, become loose or otherwise incapable of maintaining the requisite friction between telescoping members. Should that occur, the upper telescoping members may begin to slide downwardly due to the force of gravity, and one of the major benefits of the improved batting tee may be compromised. What is needed is a friction-producing mechanism that can be adjusted or regulated from time to time over the life of the tee to maintain the requisite amount of friction between telescoping members.